The present invention relates to the terminals of videotex communication systems, that is to say systems wherein coded alphanumeric and semigraphic data which are received by way of a line are decoded and displayed on a video display. In particular, the invention relates to a print apparatus for such systems, comprising a dot printer and a control unit for the printer. Semigraphic data is also known as "block graphics".
Communication systems are known, in which a printer is connected to the line with its own interface unit, by means of which it can receive the data of a message or an image, independently of the video display. The print control means acts immediately whereby printing is effected upon reception simultaneously with the display mode. Those systems are relatively complicated and expensive because of the double interface for the video display and the printer, and relatively inflexible in operation by virtue of immediately printing of the message received.